nox

See also: Nox, NOx, and ΝΟΧ

English

Etymology 1

From Latin nox (“night; darkness”), by analogy with lux from Latin lūx (“light; daylight, day”). Doublet of night.

Noun

nox (plural nox)

(rare) millilux (unit of illuminance)

Etymology 2

From n (“nitrogen”) +‎ ox (“oxide”).

Noun

nox (uncountable)

Alternative form of NOx (nitrogen oxides)
Abbreviation of nitrous oxide.
Coordinate term: nos

Anagrams

XON

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *nokts

Latin nox

From Proto-Italic *nokts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Cognate with Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), Sanskrit नक्ति (nákti), Old English niht (whence English night), Proto-Slavic *noťь.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /noks/, [nɔks̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /noks/, [nɔks]

Noun

nox f (genitive noctis); third declension

night (period of time)
media nox ― midnight

Nox pars obscura diei est. ― Night is the dim part of the day.
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.26:
  Silentio noctis
  By the silence of night
darkness
a dream
(figuratively) confusion
(figuratively) ignorance
(figuratively) death

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	nox	noctēs
genitive	noctis	noctium
dative	noctī	noctibus
accusative	noctem	noctēs noctīs
ablative	nocte	noctibus
vocative	nox	noctēs

Synonyms

(darkness): creperum, obscūritās

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “night”): diēs

Hyponyms

crepusculum; vesper; conticinium; media nox, intempesta nox, intempestum; gallicinium; matutinum, aurora; diluculum

Derived terms

Descendants

Balkan-Romance:
- Aromanian: noapti, noapte, nopti
- Istro-Romanian: nopte
- Megleno-Romanian: noapti
- Romanian: noapte
Dalmatian:
- nuot, nuat
Italo-Romance:
- Corsican: notte
- Italian: notte
- Neapolitan: notte
- Sicilian: notti
North Italian:
- Gallo-Italic:
  - Emilian: nôt, nòcc
  - Old Lombard: nog
    - Lombard: neucc, nòcc, nò
  - Piedmontese: nog
    - Piedmontese: neuit (western), neucc (eastern)
- Friulian: gnot
- Istriot: nuoto, noto
- Romansch: not, notg
- Venetan: note
Gallo-Romance:
- Franco-Provençal: nuet, nait, noit, not, net, nit, gnuet
- Old French: noit, nuit
  - Bourguignon: neut
  - Champenois: nutie, neut
  - Franc-Comtois: neût
  - Middle French: nuyt
    - French: nuit
      - Haitian Creole: nwit
  - Norman: gniaette, gniet, niet, nyit
  - Walloon: nute
Occitano-Romance:
- Gascon: nuèit, nueit, nèit, net, nèi, nuit
- Old Catalan: nuyt, nit
  - Catalan: nit
- Occitan:
  Auvergnat: neut, nueit
  
  Languedocien: nuèit, nèit, nuèch, nuòch, nhuèch, nhòch, nèch
  
  Limousin: nuech, nueit
  
  Provençal: nuech, nhuech
  
  Vivaro-Alpine: nuech, nhuech, neit
Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: nueit, nuet, nuei
  Ribagorçan: nit
- Mozarabic: نخت (nuxti)
- Old Leonese:
  - Asturian: nueche, nuechi, nueite (western), nuoche
  - Extremaduran: nochi
  - Leonese: nueite, nuoite, nueiche
  - Mirandese: nuite
- Old Galician-Portuguese: noite, noute
  - Fala: noiti
  - Galician: noite, note, noute, nuite
  - Portuguese: noite, noute (dated) (see there for further descendants)
- Old Spanish: noche
  - Ladino: noche
  - Spanish: noche
Insular Romance:
- Sardinian: notti (Campidanese), notte (Logudorese, Nuorese)
Borrowings:
- → English: nox
- → Esperanto: nokto

References

“nox”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“nox”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
nox in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
nox in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- a star-light night: nox sideribus illustris
- till late at night: ad multam noctem
- in the silence of the night: silentio noctis
- night and day: noctes diesque, noctes et dies, et dies et noctes, dies noctesque, diem noctemque
- to prolong a conversation far into the night: sermonem producere in multam noctem (Rep. 6. 10. 10)
- night breaks up the sitting: nox senatum dirimit
- (ambiguous) while it is still night, day: de nocte, de die
- (ambiguous) late at night: multa de nocte
- (ambiguous) in the dead of night; at midnight: intempesta, concubia nocte
“nox”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
“nox”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Lolopo

Etymology

From Proto-Loloish *s-nökᴴ (Bradley). Cognate with Nuosu ꆖꂷ (nur ma, “soybean”), Burmese ပဲနောက် (pai:nauk, “mungbean”), Naxi nvq (“soybean”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [no̠⁴⁴]

Noun

nox

(Yao'an) bean, pea

Middle English

Noun

nox

Alternative form of oxe